Anyway, my entry from 2016 had it as a 6, with the following un-edited blurb:
"The Old builds, and builds…by the time you have scaled the well-photographed finisher you might just be smiling out loud. With relic bunkers lying at every turn, today’s course, like most, has been squeezed into what most would call a ‘fine test.’ To that smile: punchbowl at the second, table-top third, bean pinched fourth, semi-blind and falling away fifth, the eleventh angled beyond a burn, the rolling fourteenth with the Moray behind, and swale divided sixteenth greens that contrast and challenge! "
Quite a nice write up. You should be the 5th rater in the 2035 version of TGC.
Hear Hear!
Although selfishly I'd like Clyde to write a book on the south island of New Zealand(preferably by next month) equal to his previous work on the north island.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to explorers and guidebook writers such as Tom, Clyde, Sean Arble, Thomas Dai and others who have let us in on their secret wanderings to previously unsung destinations.
Though I am very interested in all of their opinions and descriptions, I am far less interested in a quantifiable number, and I'm far more interested in one/two or a series of cool unique holes than I am in some perfect and balanced routing devoid of lows.
In fact, I think I am drawn to the ones that AREN'T published 8-10's,just for the fear of what and who I might find when I arrive.
Though I have my own ideas of what makes a destination unforgettable.
It is difficult to explain how enjoyable it is on a beautiful day on an intriguing property to put $ in an honor box and the only human encountered is a lone, curious(part time) maintenance worker who opens the bar mid round and joins you and your party for a drink.